My boss handed me my first paycheck. I walked straight to Samantha beaming with joy. She was sitting at the cash register reading a book.
"Samantha, I got my first paycheck," I said.
She looked up from her book then looked back down.
"Oh…cool," she said in a dull tone.
"I'm sorry about our date, again."
She didn't react.
"I'm going to make it up to you tomorrow morning."
Samantha looked up and smiled.
"I'll be there."
After how she's been acting the last couple of weeks I didn't expect her to even talk to me. I smiled as I got back to work.
After I got off shift I walked out the back door of the library. I put my hands in my pockets as the cold stung my skin. I walked down the street, then climbed a stairwell that led to a rooftop.
Lucas and Kade sparred as I approached them. Kade wielded two wooden katanas and Lucas, two wooden daggers. I told Lucas to learn how to fight without pistols, it was a challenge whenever sparring Kade.
Kade was putting a lot of pressure on Lucas, Lucas failed to keep up. Lucas took several unanswered hits to the body. Then he knelt down, defeated.
"Lucas, I can tell you've been practicing, but not the right things," I said. "You really need to work on fighting off the backfoot, especially since daggers are a weapon to counter with."
Kade struck Lucas down. I talked to Lucas and Kade about what they did wrong, then I gave them solutions. Everyday I sparred with them and while Kade was always very interested and passionate, focusing on the tiny things. Lucas lost focus a lot of the time never really caring about improving his skills.
Lucas approached me after I was done teaching. His arms drooped down and his expression was dull.
"Rowan, I need to speak with you."
"Walk with me back to the library," I said.
He nodded, once we were out of earshot of Kade, he looked at me.
"I don't really want to keep doing this," he said. "I don't care about getting strong like Kade, why are you having me train like this?"
I looked back at him.
"You want both of us to be safe, don't you?" I asked.
"Of course, but I really don't need to train to keep you safe."
I put my hands in my pockets as I saw my breath in the air.
"You're naive, just because you're good at something, doesn't mean you shouldn't be great," I said sternly. "Do you think because I'm good at fighting I should stop?"
Lucas rubbed his neck, he fidgetted with his other hand. He went completely silent.
"You need to become the strongest, because if you don't, there will always be someone who can kill you, taking away the life you wanted."
Lucas stared forward, looking at nothing in particular. I patted him on the back.
"Also, if you stop thinking so deeply about it, you might enjoy it," I explained. "Don't see it as something stopping you from your goals like trying to get better at fighting, see it as you getting closer to your friends."
Lucas snapped back into reality. He nodded.
"I'll try it."
"See you tomorrow, Lucas."
We both waved before I felt for my key to the library.
"Where is it? I swear it was on me."
Lucas walked back towards me.
"What? What did you lose?"
We heard a noise from inside of the store and raised our heads at the same time.
"I don't have my weapons on me, sorry Rowan."
"Don't worry about it, I'll handle this. Go home and get some sleep."
Lucas looked at me intently.
"No."
I forgot how stubborn he was.
"Wait out here then. I'll be back."
I tried the door, and to my surprise it opened. Silence filled the store, my footsteps filled the store. I looked down the aisles and found a figure looking up at me from a book. It turned its head confused.
"Rowan?"
I tightened my fists.
"How do you know my name?"
"We just sparred."
"What? Kade is that you."
He walked toward me with a book in his hand. I grabbed his shirt and brought him to the door and pointed at him where Lucas could see him. Lucas shrugged and walked off. I let go of Kade.
"What the hell are you doing?" I asked. "I thought you were an assassin."
"It's a library, and I knew you lived here so I didn't think you would mind."
I took the book from his hands.
"You didn't want to tell me! I have people trying to kill me! How did you even get in?"
"I took your key, you weren't protecting it very well."
"I didn't expect you to take it without telling me."
"My bad. But it's not that big of a deal."
I sighed.
"Why did you need to get in here so bad?"
"I wanted to read that book."
"Really? Why?"
"The other day I was in here I learned I like reading. So I wanted to read."
He seemed so innocent, and it was the only time I witnessed him not only wanting to kill. This was exactly what I wanted, for him to find a different passion other than vengeance.
"Alright, since you like reading so much, come in here as much as you like," I opened my hand. "But never take my keys again."
"Thank you, Rowan. I won't, I promise."
He handed me the keys and walked out of the store. I sighed and walked down to the shower. There were no boxes in sight anymore, and the basement now looked livable.
When I awoke the next day I shot up out of my bed. I heard knocking on the front door as I got dressed for my date. I flew up the stairs to find Kade knocking on the door relentlessly. I opened it quickly.
"What do you need, Kade? Is something wrong? Why are you here so early?" I asked.
He pointed at the book he grabbed last night, sitting on a bookshelf.
"I wanted to come here and read it."
"You can just rent it, Kade."
"Oh, I'll do that."
I helped him rent the book quickly before ushering him out of the store. As I opened the door for him, Samantha appeared. Kade stared at her, Samantha stared back.
"Who is this? You're girlfriend?" Kade asked.
Samantha looked at me.
"Kade, go away," I said as I stood in the opened door.
He walked away happily with his book. Samantha looked frustrated at me. I sighed.
"I didn't tell him to say that."
"I'll pretend I didn't hear that."
"Yeah me too."
We walked to the restaurant I picked out. It served every meal, but I heard their breakfast was the best. When we sat down, Samantha looked at me.
"So, you get your first paycheck and you blow it on me, huh?"
"Consider this my redo. I want to give you a proper first date," I said.
She looked at me with a confused expression.
"Why did that happen? Why did you just leave all of a sudden?"
I looked around the store, looking for a way out of the question. I couldn't tell her the truth. I spotted a car outside a nearby window, perfect.
"Yeah…Lucas got hit by a car…and he asked me to go help him."
I started sweating profusely. I tugged at my collar.
"Oh…you should've just told me. I thought you didn't…I thought you wanted to leave because you didn't like me," she said sadly.
I looked into her eyes.
"Absolutely not, I do like you. Lucas was in trouble and I had to help him. I care about him."
She brightened up how I hadn't seen her since our last date.
"Honestly, I've felt very lonely, not talking to you for the last two weeks."
I smiled.
"I've been sad, not being able to talk to you, Samantha."
We both started to open up after getting past that hurdle. She started to open up about her struggles with loneliness in life. She shared her interests and I asked many questions. The date felt like it lasted 5 minutes, but it was hours.
Once the date was over we walked through the streets and talked. My phone buzzed, but I ignored it completely this time. Focusing on what really matters. We shared our fears and childhood memories. She brought up stories that made me feel warm inside, knowing I was getting to truly know her.
Her hand went into mine, it felt natural. It felt warm and I loved looking into her eyes, seeing her smile. Then droplets of rain started to appear on her face. We both laughed and I guided her into a sheltered spot beneath a roof.
My phone buzzed again, now multiple times. We stopped talking, she stepped in close while holding both of my hands. We smiled at each other without saying a word. We both leaned in and kissed each other quickly. The smiles grew on our faces, our faces went red.
"Well, it's raining out, so I better go," Samantha said.
"I really enjoyed this, I want to take you on another date, tomorrow."
"I'd love that."
She let go of my hands and waved. I ran up to her.
"Hey, let me walk you home. I want to know if you got home safe."
Her hair started to get stained with water. I grabbed her hand again and we walked to her apartment. When we got to her apartment she kissed my cheek and quickly went inside waving me goodbye.
The happiness I felt was so special. Now I knew, it was final, she had my heart, all of it. I whipped my phone out. I forgot about it until now.
Lucas: Someone's following you, I've got it though.
Blade: No, I've got it. Lucas, go away.
Blade: We're going to fight him now, he looks weak.
Blade: He sucked so we tied him up, Lucas said you don't like killing so we're on a rooftop at this address. You decide what to do with him, we'll wait.
I opened the address Blade sent.
"Is that Kade, why does he have some weird name?" I muttered.